


Cultural Norms

by The_Plaid_Slytherin



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-16
Updated: 2010-10-16
Packaged: 2017-10-15 15:39:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/162332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/pseuds/The_Plaid_Slytherin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack Harkness is very comfortable with his body.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cultural Norms

"How was I supposed to know it wasn't allowed?" Jack sounded offended, though Rose wondered if he was really clueless, or had just been having a bit of fun. It was sometimes hard to tell with Jack.

"Because it _isn't_ ," said the Doctor sourly, pulling down on one of the levers on the TARDIS's console with a jerk. They began to dematerialize. " _First of all_ , public nudity wasn't allowed on seventeenth-century Ryfroge. It didn't come into vogue until the middle of the eighteenth. Second of all—"

Jack cut in again. "That wasn't even Ryfroge, which is _your_ fault." It always amazed Rose how Jack could be so _effortlessly_ naked. He carried on talking exactly as he would fully-clothed. Rose, who'd gotten much more comfortable stretching the limits of her twenty-first century mores than she'd been when she'd begun her TARDIS travels, wasn't _that_ comfortable yet.

The Doctor was still defensive. "It's not my fault. She has a mind of her own sometimes, my TARDIS." He stroked a piece of coral fondly and the TARDIS hummed. "Just so happens she'd rather see seventeenth-century _America_ , that's all."

Jack crossed his arms over his chest. "You always hear about the Puritans being so… puritanical. I guess it's true."

Rose glanced at the doors. "At least there's not an angry mob chasing us down. With pitchforks and such."

"That's an improvement on some times," the Doctor muttered.

"Hey, this is natural," said Jack, gesturing to his naked self. "Why should I be ashamed of it?"

"I can see how it'd be a bit shocking, though, when you're not expecting it," Rose remarked. "To see somebody go parading down the street starkers." No matter how comfortable Jack was in his own body, it was still a little difficult to concentrate on having a serious conversation with him naked, even when she, herself, was fully-clothed.

Maybe because she was staring right at certain… things… she usually never saw unless all three of them were naked, together, in bed.

Jack shrugged. "Where I come from, it's not shocking. In the summer, when it's warm? People go around without clothes on all the time. That's just the norm there, Rose. That's the norm I was raised in."

Rose was surprised, though she realized she shouldn't have been. It made sense, given his ideas, so different from Rose's own, that he'd grown up in such a different environment, too. She found herself wishing that Jack did this more often, talking about his past.

She nodded. "Just like on New Warnax… How was I supposed to know they were mortally offended by the color yellow?"

Jack nodded. "That's what I love about traveling," he said. "Learning all this. Back home, before I joined the Time Agency, I never knew there was all this stuff out there. Just like you, only in a different time, different place, different norms."

"Maybe we could go there sometime," Rose suggested, taking a step toward him. "I mean, I'd probably wear clothes, if that's all right—"

"Me, as well," said the Doctor quickly.

"—But I think it would be nice seeing your planet. I mean, we've seen mine _loads_ of times, so you know all about it, but I'd like to see what the culture's like where you come from."

A brief shadow seemed to cross Jack's face, but a second later, it was gone. "Oh, you don't want to do that," he said, a little too quickly. "Boring little place. Nothing ever happens there."

"Except naked people," Rose prodded.

Jack grinned. "That's _why_ there's naked people. Had to do something for excitement."

Rose and the Doctor exchanged brief glances. There was obviously something more here that Jack wasn't letting on, but she wasn't going to press. Jack talking about his past was already rare enough; she wasn't going to comment on it and risk having him stop. She was glad for what she got, and she was pretty sure the Doctor agreed.

The Doctor flipped one more switch on the TARDIS's console and turned back to Jack and Rose, seemingly satisfied that he'd fiddled with it enough. "I think we'd better stay in tonight. I've gotten chased around enough for one day."

Jack looked disappointed. "Does this mean we can't play naked hide-and-seek?"

The Doctor considered this. "Well, you're already all the way there. Bit of an unfair advantage."

Jack smirked. "Wouldn't take long for you two to catch up."

The Doctor looked at Rose, his expression deathly serious. "I suppose. Would that be agreeable to you, Rose?"

"I suppose," she echoed, unable to keep a hint of a smile from working its way through. "Last one to the bedroom, then?"

Jack laughed, all traces of his earlier discomfort gone. "You two want a head start?" He smirked. "I'm surprisingly fast."


End file.
